My Toronto: Daniel Shehori

Sure, Stephen Harper has rocked out with Bryan Adams and Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger, but Toronto audiences will find out just how melodic the PM really is when Daniel and Steven Shehori unveil Stephen Harper! The Musical on Tuesday at The Second City. The 36-year-old Daniel, who makes up half of the famed comedy writing duo, spoke with the Post’s Barry Hertz about the waterfront, zombies and zingers.

Water’s edge I live right across from Harbourfront, near Queens Quay and Simcoe. I used to live in Little Italy, which I loved, but I’ve always wanted to live right by the water. You never think about the lake in this city unless you’re right up against it; you just never associate water with Toronto unless you see it. Even in the dead of winter I just enjoy sitting at my balcony and looking over the water — it’s such a treat.

Scarborough scars I was born in Winnipeg, but my parents hated it and we moved to Scarborough right away. Back then, Scarborough was just pretty much farmland, with a lot more ravines and fields, which made for a great place to grow up if you’re a kid. It’s completely different now, and you have to go a lot further east if you want to experience nature. I think the new Scarborough is Whitby, which resembles the area in the 1980s.

Tourists & Thai Being close to Harbourfront Centre is great, and there always seems to be a music concert or art festival going on, as well as all the double-decker bus tours dropping off tourists…. I don’t have a dog, but one of my favourite places in the area is the Pawsway [245 Queens Quay E.]. It’s an indoor dog park, open all year round, and it has a great big coffee shop inside, which I check out almost every day. I’m also a big fan of Spice Thai [250 Queens Quay W.], which looks like a little generic Thai place but — and I don’t want to sound disrespectful — it’s like something out of Twin Peaks. The decor inside is so odd and lovely in a beautiful way, but the food is great. I’m vegetarian, so I often get the phad thai, green curries or spring rolls.

Second City’s city The good thing about being around Second City [51 Mercer St.] is that as soon as you’re done work, you’re already at a bar with all your friends. Right now in the summer, Gretzky’s patio [99 Blue Jays Way] is also pretty impressive, with its waterfall oasis patio being a fun place to go. On the weekends, though, since we’re in the heart of clubland, if you’re there at the wrong time when the bars are getting out, it can be a hectic place to walk around. Once these people really get going, it’s like being in a zombie movie. Just walk around, hope they don’t acknowledge you, or you’ll be swarmed.

Harper harmonies The idea of [ Stephen Harper! The Musical] came from Chicago’s Second City….Of course, the one figure that everyone has an opinion on is Harper, so they asked me and my brother to spearhead it….We made a great effort to make it a lot more than you think it would be. People assume it’s going to be a Harper bash-fest, but there would be no sport in it. It’d be like shooting fish in a barrel, so we found a way to make the show appeal to the left and the right equally.